1. Read: Right now the two tallest men in the National Basketball Association are Yao Ming and Shawn Bradley. They are both seven feet, six inches tall! That’s really tall. Right now there are 47 pro basketball players who are six feet, seven inches tall or taller. There are only ten players who are less than six feet tall. One advantage to being tall is being able to dunk the basketball. That means jumping high enough to be able to easily drop the ball right into the basket.  Each year the NBA has a Slam Dunk contest. During this contest those NBA players who can dunk the ball perform different ways of doing that. The winner of the Slam Dunk contest is the player that shows the more difficult moves while successfully dunking the basketball. Obviously the taller a person is the easier this should be. And yet last year the slam dunk contest was won by Nate Robinson of the New York Knicks. Nate stands five feet, nine inches tall.
   
   Discuss: What do you think was going through Nate Robinson’s mind when he stepped on the basketball court next to Yao Ming and Shawn Bradley during last year’s Slam Dunk contest? How do you feel about participating in our service project? Does it sound like a big job? Is it something that you think bigger kids and adults would be better at doing? What do we have to do to easily “Slam Dunk” our service project?
    
2. Read: Let’s listen in on this brief conversation between two students. They are trying to decide whether or not to take part in a volunteer relief effort for victims of Hurricane Katrina:
   
   Aaron:  So what are you doing for Katrina?
   Antonio:  I don’t think I’ll do much of anything?
   Aaron:  Why not?
   Antonio: Hey, they need so much and I really don’t have very much myself.
   Aaron: Every little bit helps, though, right?
   Antonio: I suppose so, but the Red Cross and National Guard are there. And I see and hear about all the groups doing collections, and packing up stuff to send there…and…well, I’m just not sure that anything I do will make any difference.
   Aaron:  Well, obviously we can’t go there in person, but maybe we could do something in one of these groups that is already working there. I’m sure that they could use extra hands. What do you think?
   Antonio:  I don’t know. I’m pretty busy.
   
   Discuss: What are some ways we could respond to our classmates who feel like Antonio when it comes to participating in our service project? Are there any organizations in our community that might be able to help us make our service project even more successful?
   
    
3. Read: Maybe the nicest gift we could ever receive or give is permission to change. This is the kind of permission that would allow us or someone else to be and do things differently. By this time most of us think that we have a pretty good idea about who we are. We’re not good in math. We are great athletes. We’re not popular. We are pretty smart. We’ll never be able to sing. We’re too short. We’re basically shy, and on it goes.  It’s not that we wouldn’t like to change some things about ourselves. It’s not that we wouldn’t like to try some new things or get rid of some old habits. It’s not that others might like us better or like us less if we make some changes. It’s not that we’re completely unhappy with how things are now. In some areas we are already pretty sure that we will not be able to change. We’re stuck with who we are the way we are right now. And yet most of us still wonder, “what if”.
   
   George Eliot describes her growing up as being “an odd and awkward girl, who sat in corners and shyly watched her elders". But deep in her heart she wanted to write. Being a woman wasn’t an asset for serious authors in those days. So even though she was Mary Ann (Marian) Evans she wrote under the pen name George Eliot. She later became one of England most prolific novelists. Looking back on the changes she had made in her life, she said, “It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
   
   Discuss: What are some other stories about people you know or have read or heard about who became much more than they or anyone else thought they ever could be.  In what ways might being involved in our service project require someone to change? When we consider that allowing someone to change is a gift, how might we give this gift to ourselves and/or to our classmates during this event? In what ways might change be a way to discover who we really are and who we might really become?
   
    
4. Read: “Just aim for the glove!” she called out from the stands to the pitcher on the mound. “Just aim for the glove!”  I watched her as she agonized over the situation her daughter was in.  While there were two outs in the final inning of the softball game, the bases remained loaded with runners she had walked. With the outcome of the game in jeopardy of becoming yet another loss for the home team, my mind raced back to my own middle school days on the baseball diamond. I was convinced that I was going to be a famous Major League pitcher someday. I recall that Spike, our catcher, would place his glove where he wanted me to throw the pitch. But I would often ignore his glove location and throw the ball as hard as I could where I thought it ought to be. Well, the results of me going my own way often were not pretty. Oh, once in a while my guess was better than Spike’s. More often than not, though, doing my own thing got our team in a lot of trouble. Now as I listened to this mother’s advice to her daughter, “I knew exactly what I’d say to my son or daughter if he/she were in this situation. I too would say “Just aim for the glove!” “Just aim for the glove!”
   
   Discuss:  In what ways is our service project a team effort? Why is it important to “aim for the glove” during our service project rather than just do what we want to do?
   
    
5. Read: When the name Disneyland is mentioned all sorts of fun pictures come to mind. There are cartoon characters like Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and so many others. There are rides of every sort (carousels and Ferris Wheels, trains and roller coasters, etc.). There are balloons and play lands, gardens and talent shows. Everyone who goes to Disneyland is so glad to be there. Even the workers, who are often college students, looking forward to getting back to “work” at Disneyland after a year of school. When Mr. Walt Disney dreamed about and planned his park, he wanted it to be a happy place where everyone could come and have fun. The dedication, of all Disneyland parks worldwide, begins with the phrase "To all who come to this happy place - welcome."
   
   Discuss: As we think about and plan our service project why is it important that everyone feels welcomed to join us? How can we plan our event so that it is a “happy one” where everyone feels welcomed and can have fun even if they are “working”? If the phrase "To all who come to this happy place – welcome” were hanging outside our classroom door what are some things we could do to make it true for our classroom? Our School? Our Community?
   
    
6. Read: A community is a group of people who share the same place. We are all members of many different communities. One community in which we share is our family. Other communities include our neighborhood, our class, and our school. We might be members of a sport’s team. Maybe we are a member of Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts or some other similar group. In these different communities, people know us and we have some role to play. We help do things in our communities for the good of everyone there.  Everyone is helping everyone else. When everyone is working together (cooperating), feeling like they belong, and being helpful to each other, we call this social capital.   
    
   Discuss: What are some of the benefits of being a member of our school community? In what ways will we be helping our communities by what we do during our service project? How might being involved in our service project increase social capital in our communities?
   
    
7. Read: About the only time one might here about the sport of curling in most parts of the world is during the Winter Olympics. It is a team sport played on a bowling alley-type sheet of carefully prepared ice. Teams consist of four players each. The teams alternate turns at sliding a heavy, polished granite stone down the ice “alley” toward the target area called the house. Two sweepers with brooms accompany each sliding stone. Using timing, equipment and their best judgment along with directions from their other teammates, they sweep in front of the sliding stone to help direct the stone to its final resting place. They are very careful not to touch the stone however. The object is to have the stone come to rest in the targeted spot. The complex nature of stone placement and shot selection has led some to refer to curling as "chess on ice".
   
   Discuss: The game of curling requires skills and concentrated team work. As we anticipate our service project what role might “concentrated team work” play in its success? As ideas come to us and plans are being made what are some of the best ways to be sure that our “timing” is right? That we have the proper “equipment”? That we use our “best judgment”? That we give and as well as receive “directions” from each other?
   
    
8. Read: Picture in your mind a bicycle wheel. Look closely at the spokes of that wheel. You will see that near the rim or the tire of the wheel all the spokes are spread out. The spokes appear to be separate from each other. Now look at center of the wheel. It looks like all of the spokes are coming closer together until they touch each other at the hub (the center of the wheel). People who repair bicycle wheels will tell you broken or bent spokes are usually found closer to the rim of a wheel than it is to the hub of the wheel. That is because the spokes are weaker and more easily bent or broken when they are spread out than when they are closer together. The center of the bicycle wheel is where the strength of the wheel exists.
   
   Discuss: Designers of bicycles will tell us that every spoke on a bicycle wheel is important if the wheel is to operate properly. They will also tell us that no one spoke on a bicycle wheel is more important than any other spoke on the wheel? Believe it or not we all have talent. Is any one’s talent really more important than anyone else’s talent? How might our coming together help us be stronger and more effective during of our service project? How could we use the analogy of the bicycle wheel to convince others of the importance of working together?
   
    
9. Read: Have you ever heard about “the yips”? In golf “the yips” are known as the shakiness or nervousness that one may experience while making a putt. “The yips usually occur in the “throw up zone”. The “throw up zone” is the three foot circle on the green that surrounds the cup. Supposedly, this is an easy putt to make but it is also one that can cause golfers to really get shaky and nervous. Most professional golfers have little problem driving the ball 250-300 yards and more with their driver. But many of these same professionals have been known to miss an “easy” three foot putt due to “the yips”. How does one get over “the yips”? One professional golfer gives these tips, “There are a couple of ways that I try to do it. First, I practice putting hundreds of balls each week three or less feet from the cup. Second, I visualize the ball going into the cup. And third, I anticipate the final outcome of my putting the ball in the cup. I try to think only of completing what I’ve started; of finishing the game to the very best of my ability.”
   
   Discuss: Think of a time that you really felt nervous and how you finally overcame your “yips”. As we anticipate our service project, what are some ways that we could “practice” so we can overcome our “yips”? How could we use this information to encourage others to join us who are “nervous” about their abilities? Why is it important that we “finish the game to the best of our ability”?
   
    
10. Read: Did you know that most of the pencils we use in school are made in Lewisburg. Tennessee? Did you know that they are made from cedar trees because cedar is a splinter-resistant wood? Did you know that they are made out of two grooved halves that are sandwiched together and painted only after the “lead” has been inserted? Did you know that pencils do not really contain “lead” but rather a mixture of graphite and clay? Did you know that HB found on most school pencils represents the shade of the “lead”? (HB is the middle shade between the darkest, 9B shade and the lightest 9H shade.) Did you know that the number on each pencil represents the hardness of pencils ranging from 1 (softest) to 4 (hardest)? Did you know that the #2 HB pencil is the most commonly used pencil by students throughout the world? Did you know that until the late 1700s erasers were made out of bread crumbs? Did you know that it wasn’t until 1858 that rubber erasers were attached to the ends of pencils?
    
    Discuss: It’s easy to look at a pencil and see only a pencil. We often fail to think about how much thought and effort goes into making it “just right” for its intended use. Our service project can be viewed as “only” a service project. But a lot of thought and effort will be needed to make it just right for its intended use. What are some of the things we need to think about as we plan to “erase” some of the difficulties and problems in our school/community?  How could we use the #2HB pencil to remind us that it’s often the little things that bring about the “just right” results?